About QCL 122
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF
QUEZON CITY LODGE NO.122
Named after Quezon City where it is located. The creation of Quezon City was the consuming dream of President Manuel L. Quezon. He picked the site of the city and did the entire spade work leading to its establishment.
Sometime in April 1948, a group of well-meaning brethren conceived the idea of establishing a lodge in Quezon City. The task of broaching the idea to the Grand Lodge was assigned to WB Petronilo L. Vallejo who was then the City Auditor of Quezon city. Thirty- five brethren signed the petition for dispensation. Among them were: Antonio Gonzalez, Albert J. Brazee, Jr., Mauro Baradi, Teofilo Abejo, Jose Racela, Petronilo I. Vallejo, J.L. Schwartz, and Pablo Ilagan.
On May 21, 1948, Grand Master Albert J. Brazee, Jr., issued the special dispensation that gave life to Quezon City Lodge. The organization meeting was held with MW Gonzalez as Secretary. The initial officers elected were: WB Petronilo I. Vallejo, as Master; WB John W. Ferrier, Sr., as Senior Warden; WB Abundo C. del Rosario, Junior Warden; WB Pablo Ilagan, Treasurer, and WB Edilberto M. Dayao, Secretary.
The first stated meeting of the lodge was held on June 26, 1948 in a house at San Francisco Del Monte. The presiding officer, RW Clifford C. Bennett, SGW, who later became Grand Master, initiated Romulo Lucasan, then a councilor of Quezon City, into the mysteries of Masonry.
The following year, on April 2, 1949, Quezon City Lodge No. 122 was duly constituted and its officers installed in public ceremony at the Bernardo Park beside the old Quezon City Hall, with the newly elected Grand Master, Esteban Munarriz, presiding. The three lights installed were: WB Petronilo I. Vallejo, Worshipful Master; WB John W. Ferrier, Sr., Senior Warden; and Bro. Abundo C. del Rosario, Junior Warden.
Quezon City Lodge No 122, like all lodges in their formative years, had its trials and tribulations. Forming a quorum was difficult because of the lack of members and a decent permanent venue for meeting. Fortunately, affiliations and dual membership of brethren from other lodges injected new life into the lodge. The affiliates worthy of intention are WB Esteban de Ocampo, WB Pacifico Pinili, WB Francisco Aquino, WB Dominador Ambrocio, WB Amando Ylagan, and WB Florencio Medina. From the early fifties to the present, petitioners have been knocking at the proverbial lodge door. ìQuality Controlî, however, has been the rule.
For lack of a permanent Lodge Hall, the lodge had to move from one place to another for several years. From San Francisco del Monte it moved to a small place owned by WB Vallejo in Cubao, to Quonset huts in Camp Murphy, to T.M. Kalaw Lodge Temple in San Juan, then to Quezon City again in one of the rooms of W.C. Red Cross Chapter, then to T.M. Kalaw once more, back again to Quezon City at the Quezon Memorial High School, and then to the Theosophical Society Temple, followed by the move to Roosevelt Memorial College, and to the Chapel of the United Church of the Philippines. But finally, in March of 1971, along with the other lodges of Quezon City, it moved to the present site, a Temple built by the Capitol Masonic Corporation. The present building arose from the original made of wood, which was renovated and enlarged, located at Makatarungan St., corner Kalayaan Avenue.
Quezon City Lodge No. 122 is one of the more progressive lodges in its district. It rests a spacious office located at the ground floor of the CMC Temple with furniture of the best quality. It has furnished the Vicente Y. Orosa Hall with four air conditioning units, chairs for the officers and other paraphernalia shared by all lodges using the hall. All there came from the magnanimity of some members. Financially, Quezon City Lodge No. 122 is well of and could afford to hold as many as three civic actions a year. Free medical and dental services, as well as free medicines, are provided in the civic action programs that are held as far as the Bicol Region and Mindoro Oriental. Canned goods and used clothes are also doled out to the indigents. Scholarship in the tertiary level are given to poor, but deserving students, selected by the scholarship committee. Worthy of mentioned is the benevolence of Rogelio Fuentes who has been the chairman of the Charity and Relief Committee for several years. The wives of the members are not far behind in charity and relief activities. They have formed the "Quezon City Lodge No. 122 Ladies’ Circle", and have their own projects, aside from assisting the lodge in all its civic actions and social activities.
Quezon City Lodge No. 122 has pronounced four Grand Masters of the GLP: Jolly R. Bugarin (1979), Reynold S. Fajardo (1986), Agustin V. Mateo (1992) and Santiago T. Gabionza, Jr. (2012). Most Worshipful Gabionza’s ascension to the Grand East in the same year the Grand Lodge of the Philippines marked its 100th anniversary automatically gave him the title “Centennial Grand Master”, a title that can never be bestowed upon any other brother in the entire Philippine jurisdiction.
On the district level, it has produced the following DDGMs: Amando Ylagan, Rogelio S. Talastas, Victorino Ramos, Jose Lustre, Eluderio Salvo, Luis Reyes, Santiago Gabionza and Benito Se, Jr. Jose Lustre, Severo L. Castulo, Ildefonso Serrano, Jr., Agerico Amagna, Dennis Gabionza, Santiago Gabionza and Rogelio Gevero, Jr. have all served as Grand Line Officers of the Grand Lodge.
The lodge is also proud of its noted ritualists, Saul Exmundo, Luis Reyes, Jr., Godo Velarde and Arthur Allan Ponce, and of its other leaders: Sergio Regala, Nestor Malana, Francis Pagulayan, Jonathan Florendo and the ever-supportive Gabionza brothers – Dennis, Jerome, Jose (Joe), and Santiago (Boy). One of the Lodge’s Past Masters, Geminiano Galarosa, Jr., was honored with membership to the elite Masonic Brotherhood of the Blue Forget-me- not, a worldwide group of Masonic writers and researchers. He is only the second to be awarded membership to this group from the Philippine jurisdiction, the first being MW Raymond Wilmarth, PGM.
During the 2008 Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge, Quezon City Lodge No. 122 was awarded as the Most Outstanding Lodge in the entire Philippine jurisdiction. Also awarded during the same event was Santiago Gabionza, Jr. as the Most Outstanding Master Mason in the field of Corporate Law. The Lodge has also produced two awardees for Most Outstanding Worshipful Master: first was Dennis Gabionza (MY 1992-1993) as Master of his dual Lodge, Catanduanes Island No. 291; and, Rogelio Gevero Jr. (MY 2007- 2008). During the 2017 ANCOM held in Tagaytay City, Masonic District NCR-E was given the Outstanding District award and its outgoing District Deputy Grand Master, Benito “Ben” Se, Jr., as Outstanding DDGM for MY 2016-2017. Under Bro. Ben’s leadership, the Orosa Hall and conspicuous portions of the Capitol Masonic Temple were given the long-overdue refurbishment.
Lifted from the pages of the book “Philippine Lodges” whose authors, Bros. Reynold S. Fajardo, PGM (+), and Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr., PDGL (+), were both initiated, passed and raised and served as Worshipful Masters in Quezon City Lodge No. 122
About Freemasonry
Freemasonry is the world’s oldest and largest Fraternity. Its history and tradition date to antiquity. Its singular purpose is to make good men better. Its bonds of friendship, compassion, and brotherly love have survived even the most divisive political, military, and religious conflicts through the centuries. Freemasonry is neither a forum for, nor a place of , worship. Instead, it is a friend to all religions which are based on the belief in one God.
There have been a number of definitions of Freemasonry, though perhaps the most direct is employed by English Freemasons: “Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.”
The system of morality referred to undoubtedly includes principles with which candidates are more or less familiar before their entrance into Masonry. They, nevertheless, find these principles presented in new ways and under forms different from those which they have known in the past. The essence of morality is to be found in the utter simplicity (though not the ease) of Masonry’s requirements.
Symbolism reaches a high degree of development in Freemasonry, and is largely responsible for its universality. Men of different tongues may find it difficult to reach a common understanding; but symbols enable all men to comprehend each other without the necessity of any spoken word. The symbolism of Freemasonry deals with the intellectual, moral, and spiritual values of life.
There is nothing of a light or trifling character in Freemasonry. Any intimations to the contrary are patently false. A Masonic Lodge is a place wherein members are content to love and serve their brothers, to honor their God, and to learn the many lessons that Masonry seeks to teach.
